Bringing the Juice Craze to the Masses

Wednesday

Jan 22, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 22, 2014 at 11:23 PM

How the cult practice of juicing has morphed into a multimillion-dollar industry.

The health world, it seems, is fully in the grips of a powerful hysteria...juicing. This isn’t your mama’s orange juice, though—we’re talking the new generation of cold-pressed, unpasteurized vegetable juices that have burst triumphantly onto the scene throughout the past year. Vibrantly-colored concoctions of pulverized fruit and vegetables such as kale, celery, ginger, chard and beets, these juices are touted as magical elixirs for better health.
Why juicing has attained such a widespread appeal is fairly easy to grasp: Unlike standard juices, which are heat-pasteurized, the cold-pressed method of juice extraction is thought to preserve more of the nutrients and enzymes of whole fruits and vegetables. Simply gulp down 16 ounces of juice, and bam—you’ve gotten your daily dose of fruits and vegetables. Better health, in bottle form.
That’s the idea, at least. There has been considerable debate about whether juicing is really worth the health hype—health experts warn about juice's high sugar content and lack of soluble fiber. Granted, eating vegetables in their whole form is the best answer. But for individuals who haven’t so much as touched something green in years, vegetable juices might a good way to shower their bodies with much-needed vitamins and minerals.
Jimmy Rosenberg, the founder and chief officer of premium juice distributor Evolution Fresh, agrees. “While we believe that everyone should consume fruits and vegetables in their natural form whenever possible, we know it can be difficult to get enough servings into the day,” Rosenberg says. “Drinking a cold-pressed green juice provides a great way to get nutrition from vegetables –on the go.”
And the appeal has caught on: Once a fringe practice reserved for health nut enclaves, juicing has now gone rampant, appearing everywhere from grocery store shelves to Starbucks chains. The story of Evolution Fresh illustrates the rise of cold-pressed vegetable juices from a fringe practice into a multimillion-dollar industry. Rosenberg founded Evolution Fresh over 30 years ago, well before green juices were "trendy." After being acquired by Starbucks in 2011, the company recently opened a new state-of-the juicery in Rancho Cucamonga, CA, that will quadruple the brand’s production of cold-pressed juice.
By expanding on a commercial scale, the company seeks to make delicious nutrition accessible to people all across the country. “Our cold-pressed juices are available in 8,000 Starbucks and grocery stores nationwide, and in August 2013, we announced our national availability in Whole Foods Market,” Rosenberg says.
If you’re ready to make the plunge to juicing, here are some of our picks for delicious, readily available bottled juices.
Sambazon
Available at Costco stores nationwide, the Sambazon Purifying Cleanse™ consists of three organic superfood beverages designed to prepare your body for renewal, eliminate toxins and recharge your energy levels. We particularly enjoyed the Purifying Greens, a nutritious blend of kale, apple, cucumber and parsley.
Evolution Fresh
Available at Starbucks stores and Whole Foods retailers nationwide, Evolution Fresh features a lineup of invigorating, nutritious cold-pressed juices. Our favorites included Organic V—a root vegetable-based juice bursting with carrot, apple and beet—and the Essential Greens With Lime—a nutritious green juice with notes of spinach, romaine and kale, accented by a hint of lime.
BluePrint
The haute couture of juices, BluePrint’s brightly-hued bottles have been touted around by celebrities as varied as Blake Lively and Bethenney Frankel. Now, this A-List juice brand is available to the masses at Whole Foods grocery stores across the country. We love the red—an intensely delicious combination of beets, apples, lemon and ginger—and the pleasantly hearty white cashew juice.
This article originally appeared as on Spry Living

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